Unofficial news and tips about Google

August 24, 2010

New Google Calendar Favicon

Google Calendar is not the only Google services that has recently updated the favicon: Google Sites and Google Translate have new shortcut icons and it's likely that many other Google sites will use the colorful images from this page.

Agreed, using the 31st as a static favicon is a poor choice. Either stick with a monthly calendar icon or have the icon change to the current day. The current setup is going to confuse users for 98% of the month.

I agree that the favicon change was a bad choice. The only useful thing I can think of is that the icon changes monthly to indicate the number of days in the month. That could be helpful... keyword: could

Ugh, I noticed the new icon this morning - it's horrid! A flat blue square doesn't fit in at all with Google's other favicons in my tabs, and having it permanently say the 31st is completely daft. I do hope that this is a temporary thing, and that it will change after whatever exciting thing is meant to happen on the 31st. How very silly...

I second John's comment: if you do it as a single date, better change it every day. Really though, I think you're best leaving it as a monthly, since (1) the user won't always think "it's the 31st?" (when it's really the 30th, or the 1st) and (2) the favicon will not be dynamic (like a daily-rotating one would), meaning the user can adjust to "that icon == my calendar".

Google Calendar... now Google Reader... yet another example of "change for the sake of change"--wouldn't want those users getting "comfortable" with their apps after all. (Just another part of the "Look at me! Look at me!" mentality that Google seems to be adopting now. It just makes me so... disenchanted, with all Google apps, and Google as a whole. And then there's "Goo-rizon-gate".)

I think Google should adopt a unified look for all its app's favicons. Right now I have favicons for Mail, Reader, Calendar, Documents, and Wave (yes, Wave) in my toolbar, and they all look like apps from a different company.